The
1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the of
Flushing Meadows-Corona Park (also the location of the
1964–1965 New York World's Fair), was the second most expansive American
world's fair of
all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's
Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people attended its exhibits in two seasons. The NYWF of 1939–1940 was the first exposition to be based on the future, with an opening slogan of "Dawn of a New Day", and it allowed all visitors to take a look at "the world of tomorrow". According to the official New York World's Fair pamphlet:
Planning
In 1935, at the height of the
Great Depression, a group of New York City businessmen decided to create an international exposition to lift the city and the country out of depression. Not long after, these men formed the New York World's Fair Corporation, whose office was placed on one of the higher floors in the
Empire State Building. The NYWFC elected former chief of police
Grover Whalen as the president of their committee. The committee included
Winthrop Aldrich, Mortimer Buckner, Floyd Carlisle,
Ashley T. Cole,
John J. Dunnigan,
Harvey Dow Gibson, Mayor
Fiorello La Guardia, Percy S. Straus, and many other business leaders.